


long live (all the magic we made)

by afire



Series: hold on to spinning around [1]
Category: Girl Meets World, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, Fluff I guess, Hogwarts AU, Hogwarts Crossover, Honestly like, but its okay seventh year is all fluff, especially in fifth year, i won't deny anything tbh just come at me, i won't deny it if you say trevor is sort of josh, lots of pining maya, sixth year is kinda angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-28 13:39:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6331366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afire/pseuds/afire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The castle walls hold many secrets, but so does she. At least the walls can't fall in love.</p><p>(or: riley is magical and so is maya, no matter how much she won't admit it)</p>
            </blockquote>





	long live (all the magic we made)

**First Year**

Maya gets sorted into Slytherin and she dons the colours of silver and green extremely well. The Hat didn't even have to think about it, a decision had been made the moment it touched her head. She tells the story to anyone who asks why she wasn't sorted into Gryffindor. The Hat doesn't make mistakes, at least never in all of Hogwarts history, and she isn't about to question it now. Besides, Maya has no qualms with being in Slytherin.

What she does have a problem with, however, is Potions. Slytherins take the class with the Hufflepuffs and the professor, whose name Maya has already forgotten, insisted on them finding partners in the other house. To promote inter-house relations, he said, mumbling something about the fact that Quidditch isn't the only thing that can bring houses together. She doesn’t know what Quidditch is but she wants to find out because it sounds exciting. Right now, though, she needs to find a partner before he starts lecturing her about being open-minded and willing to make new friends.

Maya's eyes dart about the room until they land on an empty stool next to a harmless looking girl who looks like she could pull both their weights in this lesson, which is excellent because everything is going according to plan. Coast through the year and then get her partner to share notes so she can pass the finals. Foolproof.

The professor is going on about something called Amortentia, which is what they'll be studying today. It's far too early in the year for them to try their hand at making potions, apparently, and they need to start with the basics: analysing them. This class just gets better and better, doesn't it? The girl next to her is listening with rapt attention and Maya is just about ready to drown herself in the potion she's meant to be studying.

There's a collective rustling noise as everyone gets their quills and parchment out and she takes that as a sign that they're starting to do their work. What did the professor say again? Something about this being the most powerful love potion in the world and something else about Amortentia smelling different to everyone based on what they love. It all sounds a bit far-fetched to her but she _is_  in a school that taught magic and where the pictures move so Maya isn't about to doubt the good professor.

Her eyes flicker to the girl next to her, who is busy writing something down, before she leans toward the small cauldron that's set on the table between them. To be honest, she's quite curious as to what she would smell from the potion, and if she was going to be in the magic world then she might as well start taking advantage of it.

The vapour glows green as she breathes in deeply, and a sensation similar to getting vertigo after standing up too fast starts to bleed into her mind. Orange juice, like her mother used to give her every morning. Watercolours and graphite and the distinct scent of her sketchbook. Morning dew, fresh and clean, because she's always liked watching the sunrise. And something else that's almost familiar, tickling the edge of her memory.

"Hey! I was wondering, uh, if you were going to help me?"

Maya turns to the right, eyebrow raised at the girl who had just interrupted her thoughts. The feeling of vertigo is gone, and she didn't manage to figure out what that last one was. It's equal parts frustrating and frustrating, which made it 100% frustrating.

"I would, if you told me what to do," she shoots back, lips curling into a smirk as she twirls her quill between her fingers, watching the girl watch her. That's all it takes, really, for the both of them to fall into something that can only be described as instant friendship. It's like they click on some insane level that no one else knows the password to. Maya smiles when she realizes the lessons is over and they've done nothing, and Riley (that's her name) is horrified.

"It's alright, we'll do it on the weekend, the deadline is in a fortnight anyway," she says, standing up and cramming her stuff into her bag, letting herself smile genuinely at Riley as the rest of the class file out the door. Besides, analysing a potion can't be that hard.

It's not til Maya is halfway to the Great Hall for lunch that she remembers what that last thing was, from the Amortentia. Honey, which is weird because she's never been partial to that. Maybe magic makes mistakes after all.

* * *

 

**Second Year**

Quidditch tryouts happen on a Sunday, and Maya is more than ready. She's been gunning for a position on the team since that first Potions lesson where the professor mentioned Quidditch. The team captain takes one look at her and sends her to where the Seekers are lining up. Maya has to put her foot down, say she's trying out for the beater position.

The team captain almost laughs, she can see it, and she narrows her eyes at him before hiking her broom over her shoulder and stalking over to join the Beaters. It's a Cleansweep Seven, bought after her mother saved for an entire year. Her dad was the magical one, but he had left when she was three and never came back, so it was just Maya and her mother. Inadequacy is not a fun feeling, so she tries to avoid it as best she can. It's a lot easier to squash something down when you knew it didn't benefit you.

They get grouped into teams and start practice matches against each other, Maya can tell everyone is expecting her to fail. It's not new, not anymore. With her stature, she would do better as a Seeker, but eyesight has never been one of her strong points. Besides, if she doesn't take her anger out on something, she's going to get expelled for murdering a fellow schoolmate.

When the first Bludger comes hurtling toward her, all Maya can see is her father's face as she swings the bat with all her might. Reagan Shelby gets sent to the hospital wing for a broken nose and suddenly no one is laughing at her anymore. She hovers in the middle of the field, hefting the bat over her shoulders as the team captain lifts his jaw off the ground.

It's no surprise when she makes it onto the team, replacing Elliot Whitewater who dropped Quidditch for the Astronomy Club, which makes no sense to her but she got his position so Maya has nothing to say. Trevor McGregor, captain of the Slytherin team, hands out their robes, saying it'll magically resize itself when they put it on and for the first time in her life, she feels as if she accomplished something all by herself.

When they get released from tryouts, Riley is the first one that reaches her. Maya is suddenly smothered in robes as her best friend hugs her tight and spins her around and around, shouting her congratulations to the sky. Farkle shows up next, the small Ravenclaw boy that they had both somehow made friends with. He smiles and hugs her as well, and it's times like these that convince Maya that she doesn't need a father. She's got her mother and her friends and that's all that matters.

✨ ✨ ✨

Hufflepuff Quidditch team tryouts happen a week later, and somehow, in some act of divine holiness, Riley makes it onto the team as the Keeper. Maya doesn't know whether to laugh or cry when the team captain tells her that that was the most saves he'd seen out of anyone who'd ever tried out. She doesn't have the heart to tell him that they were probably all accidents. Anyway, Riley's happiness is infectious and Maya finds herself smiling as well when they walk together to the Great Hall for dinner.

Everyone else is more than used to the fact that sometimes Maya slots herself in at the Hufflepuff table. Nothing has been said against sitting at another house's table, and besides, she hasn't been called out yet, after doing it for more than a year. Riley saves her a spot more often than not, and they spend the entirety of dinner stealing food off each other's plates in spite of the buffet spread in front of them. It's one of the littler pleasures in life, Maya thinks, once the desserts have vanished.

The night could go one of two ways. Riley would have some form of essay to write or a chart to fill in and she would go to the Hufflepuff common room as Maya, whining and groaning, walked her there. The alternative was that Riley would have no homework, or Maya talked her out of completing something three weeks in advance because seriously, who did that? Then they would race each other up to the Astronomy Tower and throw their cloaks on the ground before falling into, over, under, each other.

Riley would trace the constellations with her pretty fingers and Maya would close her eyes and tell stories or hum a song. They co-exist so wonderfully together that Maya never wants to leave, but she's had more than enough detentions for the rest of her life, and so they always make it back to their respective common rooms just before curfew.

On nights that end like this, with breathless laughter and something more than magic in her fingertips, she can't help but almost remember the smell of honey in the Amortentia.

* * *

 

**Third Year**

Maya is grinning when she hands in her Hogsmeade permission slip, clasping her hands behind her back when Professor Feeny inspects it for signs of forgery. She's proud to say that the signature is completely authentic, this time anyway. Her mother had been delighted to sign the slip after seeing the results that came by owl. Her hard work had paid off, nothing below 'Acceptable' and a very happy mother. Maya wouldn't admit as much out loud, but she cared very much about her mom - it was just the two of them, after all.

Next to her, Albus Potter is muttering feverishly to himself as he digs through his bag for the slip that he'd probably already lost. Maya rolls her eyes and advises him to check the many pockets of his oversized robes, laughing when he produces it from the crease in his jumper. Scorpius is waiting for him outside and Maya gives the Hufflepuff a high-five while she manoeuvres around him to where Riley is waiting, having just been released from her Charms lesson.

They walk next to each other, elbows locked and hips bumping. A smile curls itself onto Maya's face as Riley goes on and on about what they'd do at Hogsmeade. All she really wants to see is Weasley's Wizard Wheezes because Merlin knows she needs something to get her out of History of Magic, but Riley wants to stop at Honeydukes and the Three Broomsticks and the post office and Maya doesn't have it in her to say no to Riley. So their plan for Saturday turns into a checklist of shops to visit.

✨ ✨ ✨

The week passes them by, and before she can blink Maya is standing in the queue to get ticked off the list by Harley the caretaker. Riley is bouncing on the balls of her feet next to her, smile impossibly bright in the shade of the doorway.

"Where do you wanna go first? Huh? Do you wanna choose? Or am I choosing? Who's choosing?"

"Slow down Riles, you can pick where we go first as long as I get to make a stop at the joke shop."

"Okay okay, so I think we should go to Honeydukes first because I want to look at all the candy before the crowd gets there and then we should go to the post office so I don't forget to pick up the parcel for Dad and then-"

They've reached the door and Riley gets cut off by Harley so that he can tick their names off. Maya's eyes skip to the middle of the parchment and she points to both her name and Riley's with cold fingers. Stepping out into the sunlight feels almost similar to getting released from Azkaban after twenty years, and Maya isn't even exaggerating.

As planned, they go to Honeydukes first, and Riley is immediately all over the shelf displaying Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. It seems like they’ve come up with a hundred new flavours and drawn up a helpful chart to showcase them all. Maya glances around the shop and makes her way to the sugar quills; if she's going to not pay attention in class, she might as well have a quill she can actually consume.

They leave Honeydukes with a pack of sugar quills (for Maya) and five boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, three boxes of Cauldron Cake Mix, ten Chocolate Frogs, and two Instant Ice-Creams (for Riley) one of which she gives to Maya. They stroll toward the post office licking peanut butterscotch and raspberry white chocolate respectively.

✨ ✨ ✨

By the time they're sitting down in the Three Broomsticks with two mugs of Butterbeer between them, Maya is beyond exhausted. She, however, has managed to get an entire pack of Nosebleed Nougats, coupled with two or three free Puking Pastilles, and is very happy with the day's earnings. Riley is sorting through the cards from the five Chocolate Frogs she has already inhaled, leaning on the parcel that they collected from the post office for her father.

Maya grins sleepily at Riley over her Butterbeer mug, absentmindedly poking at her pack of sugar quills. They would have to walk back to the school soon, but right now she's content to sit here in silence. Rays of sunlight slice through the clouds and float into the darkened shop, signifying that the day is almost over. Maya watches as the light touches her friend, illuminating her face in gold.

This, she thinks, this is what art looks like.

* * *

 

**Fourth Year**

Maya starts to call Riley 'honey' when spring falls upon them and the flowers start to blossom. It is around this time that she realizes she loves her best friend, a lot. It is also around this time that Trevor, the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, asks her out. He's in his last year of Hogwarts, a full three years older than she is, and Maya doesn't deny that she once thought she liked him, but she can't exactly say she actually does. Not now, anyway.

Trevor's face is open and hopeful and bright and she almost doesn't want to turn him away, but her heart is beating continuously for someone else and she cannot have him love a lie. So Maya smiles apologetically and returns his dozen roses and the box of Honeydukes chocolates that he'd passed to her. She hopes he cannot see that her hands are shaking and there is something more than an apology in her voice.

(It's guilt, of course, all these years she led him on; you don't know what you have until it's gone but Maya's never had him and now she loves another, even though she's not quite sure who it is.)

✨ ✨ ✨

_(Or maybe she does and it's too difficult to admit, the worst lies are the ones you tell yourself.)_

✨ ✨ ✨

Riley never finds out what it was that Trevor wanted, and Maya never tells her. She doesn't know why, they've always shared secrets, but this one feels monumental. Maya knows her instincts, and she's usually right. Secrets are dangerous but sometimes telling them is even more so. Riley stops asking and Maya stops shrugging and they fall back into tandem with each other.

They traipse to lunch and Riley is telling her the story of what happened in her dream the night before. They were both princesses of a pink kingdom and Riley had a unicorn while Maya had a dragon. In the midst of the laughter her best friend's hand brushes hers and Maya's skin burns and she almost jumps. Riley, bless her but she's not usually observant, doesn't notice and continues with her story.

Maya stares resolutely at the jug of pumpkin juice until it disappears to make way for chocolate syrup and then there's too much dessert for any lingering thoughts or feelings or hands so she's safe for now. Riley continues smiling at her like she's the most precious thing in the world and that's enough.

✨ ✨ ✨

They stumble upon the Room of Requirement one quiet Monday afternoon when they both have no class because the dungeons are being fixed after a fire broke out. Maya is pacing one way and Riley is pacing the other and they high five when they meet in the middle and then Riley shrieks because a huge door just showed up on the wall.

Riley's eyes are wide and Maya's lips are pulling into a smirk and before her friend can protest she's pushing at the doors with all her might. It's not a big room, like the outside suggests. In fact, it's pretty small. It looks just about the right size for … two people. And it is now that Maya starts to suspect but Riley's face is a mosaic of happiness so she doesn't say anything and then she's being pulled toward the edge of the room

There's a window here with a window seat and it doesn't exactly overlook the castle grounds because they don't have fields of flowers or rainbows in Hogwarts but Riley is enchanted and Maya just smiles and sits down and watches Riley watch the world.

✨ ✨ ✨

(Maya finds out about the Room later on when she asks the older Slytherins and she goes so far as to tell Riley it's magical because even her innocent best friend can tell the scenery outside the window is fluid and ever-changing but she keeps the rest to herself because for some reason it makes her feel warm, the fact that they were both practically thinking the same thing while they paced.)

✨ ✨ ✨

Winter comes and goes and Maya teaches Riley how to play chess in the snippets of time they have together outside of class. She's heard the legends of the giant chess set that lurks underneath the castle floors. Riley wouldn't survive in that, she doesn't understand that sacrifices have to be made in chess. Her best friend is sunshine in the form of a girl and refuses to send her pieces to die, even if it promises her a checkmate.

Maya tries and tries to tell her that one crushed rook on the face of the board is nothing. Riley crosses her arms and loses match after match because she wants to protect all her precious pieces. Try as she might Maya cannot resent her for it, because this is who she is.

They play into the night sometimes, when Maya risks detention to sleep in the Hufflepuff dormitories and Riley pretends to be mad at her for breaking the rules. By the time morning comes their repairing spells no longer work and the girls themselves are asleep over the mahogany table. By the time morning comes, castles and bishops and kings that were in pieces the night before are whole again and set up ready for another match, the work of house elves who sweep through the common rooms when everyone else is asleep. By the time morning comes, Maya is always a little bit more in love with Riley.

✨ ✨ ✨

_(Sometimes Maya can't help but feel like she is yet another knight in the chessboard of life and her very existence is in the soft, warm hands of a girl who would rather lose a million times than let the world lay waste to her troops.)_

* * *

 

**Fifth Year**

There is a very thin line between loving your best friend and being _in_ love with your best friend. Maya realizes she's crossed it when she looks up one day and finds that all her sketchbooks are filled with messy graphite doodles of Riley Matthews. Her hands, her eyes, the soft creases of her mouth. It’s simultaneously too much and too little to take in all at once. Maya pays even less attention in class that day than she usually does.

Riley acts like her usual self so Maya tries her best to as well, it's not hard when she can attribute any flinching and atypical behaviour to the fact that they appointed her as the new Quidditch captain. Her mother was understandably excited, even though Katy doesn't quite know what Quidditch is. Maya knew her mother was proud of her and that was all that mattered.

James Potter is the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and he takes every opportunity to throw his red and gold robes in her face and claim that Gryffindor is taking the Quidditch cup that year. Maya just rolls her eyes and manoeuvres Riley away when she sticks her tongue out at him. Maya could have been attracted to James Potter had she not been in love with her best friend.

Said best friend is one of the two Hufflepuff prefects that year and needs to live up to her badge by not doing things like sticking her tongue out at the Gryffindor Quidditch captain. Besides, James Potter has other things to worry about. Like his younger brother dating Scorpius Malfoy. Maya makes sure to tell him this as they walk away and laughs as his face goes red and he starts sputtering.

She doesn't stop to think why Riley was so worked up over Potter teasing her; it's what they all do as Quidditch captains. Friendly rivalry to keep the spirit up. Maya attributes it to the stress she has from all the homework piling up.

✨ ✨ ✨

It doesn't fully hit her that she's in love with her best friend until they're in Potions class and this time they're learning how to _make_ Amortentia. Maya leans in toward the vapour again after Riley throws in the last ingredient and stirs clockwise three and a half times. She smells exactly the same things as she did in first-year and it's mildly confusing because she's sure she loves Riley and-

Oh.

It is at this moment in time that Maya Hart realizes she's always been in love with Riley Matthews because dear lord she smelled honey on the _first day_. She can't believe she hadn't put the puzzle pieces together before and now she is infinitely curious as to whether Riley can smell peaches. Her heart is thumping wildly all over the place and Maya is sure Riley can hear the erratic rhythm but all her friend is doing is finishing the questions that are written on the board.

Maya swallows her words and chains them to her ribcage, breath catching whenever Riley's fingers brush up against hers on the small, small, small table. The dungeons are cold but her chest is warm and so is Riley. Maya blinks twice and then settles with a feeling not unlike contentment in her bones.

She loves her best friend, she's always loved her best friend, and she will always love her best friend. It's not that difficult to wrap her head around anymore.

✨ ✨ ✨

Then there is the added complication of not letting it slip. Their friendship is the most important thing to her right now, Maya isn't about to let anything destroy it. Least of all herself. She tapes down her feelings and files them in the back of her heart, pretends she's not hurting when Riley talks about all the boys that she'd love to date. Farkle knows, she thinks. That boy has always been smart, he's probably picked up on it by now. Besides, he's been giving her sad smiles and sad eyes a lot lately. Maya would bet an entire pack of sugar quills on the fact that he knows.

She is, then, infinitely grateful to him for not saying anything even though he could. She would never confirm it, of course, even if Farkle told someone, but Maya knows she'd never be able to lie to Riley, no matter how much she wanted to. She was a great Slytherin until it came to her best friend, then she turned into a mushy pile of embarrassment, it's probably gotten worse since she fell for her. It's probably going to keep snowballing downhill until Maya isn't able to do anything but agree with Riley Matthews.

(She doesn't really mind agreeing with Riley, having spent the better portion of her life wrapped around her finger anyway; it's not that different, loving her and being in love with her.)

* * *

 

**Sixth Year**

The magical ceiling in the Great Hall is wrought with dark clouds and the occasional lightning strike. It's the night of Halloween and there are pumpkins floating over everyone's heads. The Hogwarts' ghosts are more lively tonight than ever, Nearly-Headless Nick busy telling all the Gryffindors a story. Maya just wants to avoid touching the Bloody Baron because she's sure she's going to get hypothermia if she gets within three inches of him.

The shadows in the castle are even darker than they usually are, but Riley is braving all of it to finally sit at the Slytherin table for once. Maya's friends all narrow their eyes at her and she pretends she doesn’t see, instead turning fully to Riley while she talks. Her face is illuminated in the warm, orange glow of the pumpkins and Maya cannot help it, she is staring and zoning out. Riley waves her hands in front of her face and she snaps back to reality, cheeks tinging pink as she reaches for the mashed potatoes and asks Riley what it was that she just said.

All of her Slytherin friends are smiling slyly at her and Maya is resolutely ignoring them, making sure not to sit too close to Riley. It's more difficult than it looks, when she feels like they were put on this Earth to be together. There isn't any scientific explanation for soulmates but Maya's atoms belong next to Riley's and there has never been a time where they weren't an 'us' as opposed to a 'you' or a 'me'.

The Hogwarts' ghost finish the night with a mid-air acrobatics performance and they troop to bed. Maya side-steps into a doorway and pulls on Riley's arm. They almost fall to the floor but she catches them on the wall, laughing softly. All too suddenly they're alone and the room is dark and Riley is impossibly close to her. Maya can feel her heart beating in her chest.

Then Riley pulls away and there is curiosity sparkling in her brown eyes so Maya explains that there's supposed to be a meteor shower tonight and jerks her thumb in the direction of the Astronomy tower. Riley glances at her prefect badge once, fleetingly, but her lips are pulling up into a grin and Maya knows she's won. And so they run, with light footsteps and hushed voices, skirting the edges of firelight.

Riley gets to the top of the tower first and she turns to smile winningly at Maya, who is huffing to the top. She stops and looks up and is so ready to smirk back but Riley is bathed in moonlight and she is somehow even more beautiful than before and her brain fizzes out. Her feet skip a step and she almost falls but Riley's arms are suddenly around her and they both tumble onto the cold stone floor.

Riley is laughing and Maya's lungs are no longer functional but they rearrange themselves and settle to watch the meteor shower. She's sneaked food from the Great Hall, of course she has, and Riley almost rolls her eyes but gives that up in favour of one more treacle tart. Maya settles for a custard cream and leans back against her best friend, counting the seconds between their heartbeats until they register in sync.

✨ ✨ ✨

Somewhere in between waking and sleeping, Maya's guard drops and she whispers 'I love you' to Riley's figure, curled up next to her. She doesn't know whether it's a dream when Riley whispers back, her voice impossibly gentle in the quiet of the starlight.

✨ ✨ ✨

_("I love you too, so very much.")_

✨ ✨ ✨

Maya wakes up and Riley is still sleeping and she barely remembers the previous night save for cold cheeks and secret wishes to the sky. They slide into breakfast just in time to not get into trouble and Maya's hair is messy and Riley can't stop sneezing but no one asks them where they were so Maya doesn't have to lie.

✨ ✨ ✨

Riley corners her one day after Transfiguration, her face unreadable in the dim light of the hallway. Maya is on her way to Charms but figures what her friend has to say is more important so she follows Riley into an empty classroom on the third floor, hitching her bag higher over her shoulder. It's going to break one day and Maya is going to regret not getting a new one sooner but she'll cross that bridge when she gets to it.

Riley slides the door closed and goes to stand in front of the blackboard, hands twisting together and feet jittery. Maya's brows crease as she follows, leaning against the wooden desk.

"What's wrong, honey?"

There's a two second pause and then Riley turns around and this time there's a smile stretching across her face when she crosses the metre distance between them.

"I think I'm in love with someone, peaches."

And Maya cannot breathe because her lungs are on fire and the smoke is curling its way into her system and she will die right here on this very spot and she needs to leave right now but instead she says-

"That's great, Riley."

Instead she says-

"How does it feel?"

And it's poised as a question, as if she doesn't know how it feels, as if she hasn't counted the butterflies in her stomach whenever her best friend is a little too close, as if she hasn't spent every wish she's ever had on the minute possibility that Riley might love her back.

The room is too hot and too cold and  _goddammit_ Riley is taking too long to think about her answer and Maya is just about ready to curl up on the floor and die-

"I feel like I'm flying whenever they're near, I feel like a human rainbow, I feel so light and warm and free."

And Maya is so ready to cry, she is so ready to leave and skip Charms because _fuck that_ but she inhales her tears and stretches a smile across her face.

"I'm really happy for you Riles, have you told them yet?"

If there is a hint of jealousy in her voice it is not her fault because Maya has been hiding for too long and she is a porcelain doll that's been broken apart far too many times for the pieces to fit properly together again. It is not her fault if something seeps through.

"That's the thing, you see. I don't know if they love me back."

Maya looks up and her brows furrow because who wouldn't love Riley Matthews? Who wouldn't love this amazing, beautiful girl who wants the best for everyone? It's so preposterous she almost forgets her heart is breaking.

"Well, I'd love you back."  
  
The words are out there and she cannot take them back and Maya feels like she's already said too much. Riley is in love with someone else and she cannot burden her best friend anymore but suddenly the desk is gone and it is definitely impossible for her to have done that, even accidentally. Maya can't even do a Vanishing Charm when she's trying, look at her, she's standing here instead of being in Charms class.

Which means it must have been-

Riley looks as shocked as she does, understandably. Her accidental magic has always been more powerful anyway.

"Well would you look at that."

There is a smile in Riley's voice and when Maya looks up her best friend is standing right in front of her, eyes twinkling in the darkness.

"I don't- why did that happen?"

"Did you mean it? When you said you'd love me back?"

Maya is still trying to wrap her mind around the desk just disappearing into thin air and she nods absent-mindedly because of course she meant it.

"Okay, okay then I love you."

"I love you too, Riles, what are you getting at?"

"The person that I'm in love with, it's you."

And if Maya wasn't ready to die before she certainly is now because-

"What?"

"I love you Maya, I think I have since that first day in Potions class. There were peaches in my Amortentia."

The entire room is quiet except for Maya's soft breathing and she feels as if she can see every single dust particle dancing in the sunlight just to her right. Riley is waiting patiently for her answer and she doesn't know if it's sufficient but she tumbles forward anyway.

"There was, is, honey in mine."

Maya has no fucking idea what to do next but Riley leans forward and presses their lips together and holy _shit._

It doesn't feel like anything she's ever felt before, and yet the sensation is familiar enough to feel like home. Riley's hands are tangled around her waist and Maya's fingers are knotted in her hair and they are falling, falling, falling into, over, for each other.

✨ ✨ ✨

_(Later, when they’re huddled even closer than they usually are on an armchair in the Slytherin common room, Maya squeezes Riley's hand and whispers, "Hey, wanna go out with me?" Riley laughs and in this moment they are immortal.)_

* * *

**Seventh Year**

In her last year of school, Maya spends Christmas at Hogwarts. She wakes up on Christmas morning with cold feet and frosty breath but there is snow outside her window so she smiles and pulls on her socks before sliding into the common room. The Slytherins put up a huge tree that year and there has to be a million presents under it, unless someone's illusion magic is really good.

The stone wall of the dungeon slides open and Riley almost falls in but she catches herself just in time and by then Maya's already at her side. It's probably against the rules to tell someone from another house the password to your common room but none of her friends mind, and it's not as if Riley is going to tell anyone. Probably. If half the Hufflepuff house suddenly descend on her common room then she's going to get into trouble. Insofar, no one has had any qualms with it.

Maya smiles and kisses her just because they're close and she can, then they stumble over to the couch that's the closest to the fireplace. Riley has a box that she summons from under the tree; Maya narrows her eyes at her because _when did you put that there?_ but Riley pushes the box at her before she can say anything and her curiosity wins.

Inside the box there's a scrapbook that looks handmade and Maya almost cries because her name and Riley's are written in pretty lettering over the top and they look like they belong together and in no universe will she deserve this wonderful girl but in this moment they are RileyandMaya and nothing else matters.

The sketchbook is filled with pictures of them both, magical ones where they're moving and in the majority of them they are laughing at something the other one did. Under every picture there's a caption that Riley wrote and each page is painstakingly decorated with glitter and stars. On the back cover there's a drawing of two peaches and the words 'I love you' underneath them. Now Maya is crying and when she looks up Riley is still sitting there and the soft green glow of the lake makes her look even more beautiful.

"I'm never going to be able to top this, you're making my present look bad," Maya complains, wiping at her eyes and Riley laughs, the sound warm and sweet, resonating through her body.

Maya pulls out a box of her own, pushing it toward Riley and sitting back, making sure not to spoil any part of her scrapbook. Her box is bigger, it took both her arms to carry it, though it isn't that heavy. Inside it are an assortment of items that she's collected over the course of the year. Each item is tagged with a short message.

A purple sweater with  _'you said you were cold during Potions once.'_

A tumbler with a unicorn on it with  _'so you can stop complaining about not being able to bring pumpkin juice everywhere.'_

A Chocolate Frog and a pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans with _'some things you bought when we went to Hogsmeade together for the first time.'_

It went on and on, just little things that Maya had observed over the year coupled with nostalgia items. She has always been the listener, best to put what she hears to use.

The first thing she put in there, so that it would be the last thing Riley found, was a jar of honey. It's tagged with _'I love you.'_

When Riley looks up she's crying too and that sets Maya off and for a while they're just tangled up in each other and crying but somewhere along the way they start laughing and when they both wipe at their eyes all's that left is a smile on their faces.

"Merry Christmas, honey. I love you."

"Merry Christmas, peaches. I love you too."

✨ ✨ ✨

The last time they visit Hogsmeade as Hogwarts students is practically the same as the first time they visited Hogsmeade. Riley is still excited and Maya still just wants to go to the joke shop, but this time their fingers are tangled together in the pocket of Maya's coat. This time they walk plastered to the other's side. This time they share an ice-cream and laugh when their noses bump over the cone.

They both tumble into the Three Broomsticks just as the sun starts to set and squish together in the same booth, laughing softly over their Butterbeers in the comfortable warmth of the inn. Maya ends up lying on the table with her head in the crook of her elbow, watching as Riley fishes for the last bits of foam in her mug. She's the only person Maya knows that drinks her Butterbeer with a straw.

The sun slices through the frosty windows once again, illuminating Riley in gold and Maya thinks she looks like a princess and smiles to herself because it's closer to the truth than it isn't. Riley catches her smiling and leans down to kiss her softly, resting her head on the table next to Maya's.

"What are you thinking?"

Maya blinks twice before answering, voice sleep-gentle in the quietness that surrounds them.

"You're art."

And Riley smiles, brown eyes impossibly beautiful in the dim light.

"So are you."

✨ ✨ ✨

The Hogwarts Express chugs to a stop at King's Cross station and Maya can hear the hustling and bustling of her former schoolmates as they haul their trunks off the train. This is the last time she'll ever be here, unless of course she chooses to be a teacher and ride the train but that will probably never happen. These are the last seconds in which she can call herself a Hogwarts student.

Maya stops at the narrow door, her trunk already lying on the platform, and takes one last look around. Riley steps up beside her and slides their hands together and it feels like a promise to never let go. She tilts her head up and Riley is smiling at her like she always has, like she has since they first met in Potions' class. Riley is smiling at her like she is a precious thing.

And so she takes a deep breath and they step off the train together. In that moment, Maya Hart knows that she is going to be okay.

 

**Author's Note:**

> this took forever ??? and it started with a text to my friend on the ninth of march saying "YOU KNOW WHAT IM TEMPTED TO DO IM TEMPTED TO WRITE GMW/HOGWARTS AU IS WHAT IM TEMPTED TO DO" and then i went ahead and did it AND THEN zuka and i took two hours to edit it together i'm so sorry zuka please forgive me. if you want to yell at me for being horrible OR TELL ME WHAT ELSE TO WRITE god i need ideas this fic sucked the life and soul out of my body you can find me on tumblr @fightiingdragons


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